Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-08-11

am not drinking man. Campbell is
old-fashioned. and always shows a
large expanse of shirt-front. Were
my eyes deceiving me? They never
yet had deceived me, those sharp eyes
of mine. But there could not be q
doubt of it; an insect was slowly, very
slowly, crawling up Campbell's shirt
front. 1t will be quite sufficient when
| vail the vulgar name of that insect
by saying that the name of certain
musical note expressed its character.
l would have trave,d with Campbell
in the same carxi<ge from London to
Edinburg, or from Southampton to
Bombay in the same P. and o. boat.
without speaking to him. But this
was not a moment for half meas
| ures.
Il beg your pardon" I said; ''don't
| move, but there s-er-a something on
your Shirt
Campbell lowered his eyes; he moved
the Objectionable thing and thanked
me. but he did so in careless sort of
way, as though the finding of objec-
tionable things on his shirt-front was a
common occurrence. an every day af-
fair. Twas naturally surprised at his
taking the thing so coolly.
1--WE ought to send for the steward at
once!" 1 said, in my natural indigna-
ton. GOOD CAD. sir. the place is, per-
haps. infested!'
Don't excite yourself" replied
Campbell. Its my fault; get them in
my work"
"Good gracious!' was all could ut
ter in my horror and establishment;
and then l did a very stupid thing-I
manifested curiosity. At the Rice and
Curry to manifest curiosity in any
thing whatsoever is looked upon as the
very worst of bad form.
':Ah." said, interrogatively, '.you
go in for old furniture and things Of
that sort, eh?'
"No," said Campbell, Il bring them
from the East End
looked round the room for q wit
ness to this horrible confession. Talk
of disturbing influences! Here was a
man who boosted in cold blood that he
brought disturbing influences of the
most abominable kind into the club
smoking-room. For once in my life
my diffidence vanished. l felt that l
was called upon to perform a duty.
that the eyes of the fourteen hundred
and ninety-eight other members would
look to me to do that duty, and l in
stantly determined to summon 4 gen.
eral meeting, and to propose Camp
bells immediate expulsion.
do you feel any interest in my
work." said he. suavely.
This was the last straw. lrose to my
feet
mo. sir,"l said, with just indigna-
ton. Il look upon your conduct as
abominable and disgusting. 1 can on
ly hope. sir, that you are insane"
Here l thought of Wugsby and Raving
Madness.
''Then you approve the opium tax7"
said he. quite calmly.
He was evidently mad; he could not
have been drinking. for he had been
under my observation for at least two
hours. Perhaps he was mystiier or
fool; to ME the terms are synon-
ymous.
Il fancy we are playing at cross pur-
poscs." he added, after a pause. 1.-The
fact is that l go daily among the Chi
nese at the East End. in whom I take
great interest, and what you have
seen is one of the inevitable drawbacks
to my occupation"
Like all enthusiasts, once started on
his hobby. he proceeded to ride it to
death. He explained to me that by
our system of fostering the opium in
dustry in India we were causing yearly
the death and moral ruin of thousands
of intelligent Chinese. He dhated
upon the subject for At least an hour,
and then he launched out upon the
destitute condition of the large Chinese
colony at the East end of London. l
tried to get away several times. but in
effectually. At last he succeeded in
communicating to me portion-a
very small portion-of his own en-
thusiasm. He painted terrible pict-
ure of John Chinaman in London.
homeless, penniless, friendless. hope
less, possessed body and soul by the
opium fend, spending his hard-earned
coppers in sordid dens upon the fatal
drug. which was to assuredly repay his
infatuation by gradually stealing away
his health. his brains, and at last his
life. He fairly made my flesh creep.
my dear fellow" he said. ''there is
no time like the present; come and see
for yourself"
resisted. but in vain. l have said l
am diAiaent. l fear have no strength
Of mind. never can say no. I could
not say no to Campbell 1t was ten
o'clock at night He got me down